We've all been there.  Those times when it feels like we just have too much to do.  Our minds feel "cloudy" and are swirling with everything that needs to get done.  We feel overwhelmed and struggle to keep up.  

No matter who you are, you have had times when it seems like there is too much on your plate and you cannot get out from under it.  With running multiple businesses and juggling family life and racing Ironman, I definitely feel overwhelmed at different times.

Many years ago, I learned how to deal with this and help myself to get back on track and the solution is really quite simple:  Stop and write down what needs done.

It really is that easy.  When you feel like you cannot keep up  or remember everything you have to do, if you just keep trying to tackle it by "remembering as you go," you will find that it almost makes things worse.  

Instead, stop and go to a quiet place with a notepad and spend 20-30 mins doing a brain dump of everything swirling around in your mind.  Once you have cleared everything out, you will find you feel much better.  Then you can go to work prioritizing and putting a to do list together to help you get everything done.  

In doing this, you will find clarity and be much more productive.  Use this simple technique to make a difference in your success!

Humans are emotional beings.  We cannot escape the impact our emotions have in our lives, but we can learn to recognize when emotions are clouding our judgement or keeping us from recognizing the truth.  

As entrepreneurs, it is very important for us to understand how to use emotion, but also how to recognize when it is leading us down the wrong path or to bad decisions.  This is part of emotional inteliigence.  Remember, emotions are always there and driving our actions and decisions - so it is best that we go to work in becoming masters at recognizing and using them to our advantage.  The most important thing is not to allow our emotions drive us into making double standards or justifying things that are not right, just because we want a certain outcome.

You see a lot of examples of this, especially in places like politics.  For example, as I write this, there is another political scandal going on, this time with President Joe Biden having taken classified documents and stored them in places like his garage when he was a Vice President.  The law says he cannot do that.  But, many people and pundits that are "on his side" are finding ways to justify it or play it down while at the same time saying Donald Trump should go to jail for the same things.  Donald Trump was President when he took documents and had the power to declassify, which a VP does not, but it is not clear yet if he did.  Either way, if they broke the law in handling documents, the response should be the same and they should both be prosecuted according to the law, President or not.  But emotion gets in the way.  When it is "your guy or gal," it is OK and people find a way to justify bad behavior.  This is creating a double standard or avoiding the truth.  A spade is a spade.

This happens in business all the time whether it is with how some employees are treated or when leaders justify breaking rules and principles to succeed.  

So, what is the answer for entrepreneurs when we operate in a world like this?

First, we must know and understand our principles.  What are yours?  Have you ever really thought about them?  Have you written them down?  What are the lines that you will not cross for anything - not for money, power, fame, success, etc?  We must know our principles and stand for them and on them.

Second, we must learn to recognize when emotions are taking over and clouding our logic and stop this from happening.  This is not easy, but just about everyone has had times where they know emotions got the best of them.  It is at these times that we can reflect and understand how this happened and prepare ourselves not to let it happen again or at least the same way.  It is a constant lifelong work in progress, but if we keep rooted in principles, it is much easier because they guide us.  When you get really good, you learn to stop, ask, and choose.  When you feel emotion taking over,  you can stop yourself in the moment and ask yourself, "Is this the action or reaction I want to have in this situation?  Does it align with my principles?"  Then you can choose to move forward to change the action or reaction you were going to have to the best one for the situation.  

Third and lastly, recognize those around you who do not operate with integrity and principles and remove them from your world.  This will take away temptation, but also help you find the those that are true to themselves and better for your life anyway.

As stated prior, emotions will always be a part of our lives and drive us.  There are times where it makes great sense to use them to help in life and business and there are times where we must keep them in check.  Learning how to do this for yourself will be one of the best things you can do to help your success.

Let's face it.  A lot of people give up on life and never reach their potential.  They get beaten down by adversity, failure, and even by the prisons they create in their own mind.  

In short, they die before they are dead.  

You've seen people like this before - they become walking shells of their former self and no longer seem to have purpose or drive in life.  They seek comfort and any time they have a chance to break out or break through from the chains holding them down, they shy away from the opportunity.  It truly is a vicious cycle that can drag people down to the depths of depravity.   Many can never escape it.  

But this state can be broken and people can once again find themselves, their purpose, meaning, and drive in life.  It takes work and a willingness to understand their situation and confront it - but things can change.  

The biggest place the battle is won is your mind.  What happens to people when they end up in this situation is that they have created habits and subsconcious reactions that keep them in this state.  For example, people will create habits of staying away from opportunities or not taking a chance to improve themselves and over time, these become habits.  The subconscious mind then supports these habits by creating the reactions that keep them in force.  So, for example, if someone is given an opporunity to find new meaning and purpose, their subsconcious will create a response that keeps them from taking action on it.  It may be fear, worry, or doubt, but it re-enforces the thinking of not wanting to change the status quo - and thus keeps people trapped.  

The only way out of this is to take back control and not let yourself be run by programming that you did not actually choose to have.  And of course, it is easier said then done.

So, what does someone do to breakout?

First, they have to come to grips with where things are and decide they want to change it.  From there, it is all about replacing the bad habits with good habits and retraining the subsconcious.  It all comes down to recognizing those times where you have the opportunity to break out and your subsconcious tries to reel you back in and in those moments having the courage to push forward and through.  This is incredibly hard the first few times, but gets easier as time goes on.  Once you start to do this, you start to recognize the ways your mind is literally sabotaging you and can begin to choose the thoughts you want to have. 

Racing Ironman taught me how to do this well as there are many times, especially after swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, that I am deep into my marathon and my mind starts to challenge me.  It wants me to quit because, especially if I am going at a faster pace than normal, it thinks I am going to hurt myself or not make it.  It is in these moments where I know I must push through and in doing so, I increase my self-imposed limitation levels - until the next time I hit them where I have to do it again and so on.  The first time was the hardest, but now I have seen the amazing benefits of powering through and that is what has allowed me to get better and better each race climbing the ranks to be top in the world.  

We must overcome the limitations we put on ourselves and never allow ourselves to die before we are dead!
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Each year I choose a motto to live by.  It is something that embodies how I want my year to go, but is short and to the point.  

Each day, I read this motto as part of my perrsonal growth routine and I look at all the areas I can work it into my daily life.  

This year, I wanted to get back to basics and I asked myself, "What really matters and where should I focus myself?"  In thinking through this I arrived at the following:

Sound Mind, Sound Body, Do Great Work

If I do those 3 things, I know I will have the year I want, but what do they mean?

Sound mind means to grow myself in knowledge and spiritually.  Sound body means to take care of myself physically, but also with how I eat and to limit or remove stressors on the body such as sugar and alcohol.  Good rest and a regular schedule are also needed for both a sound mind and a sound body.  

Do "great" work is a distinction.  Don't just do good work.  Ensure that the work you do is great and you are your best for it.  It means that I will have to strive and focus to be at the top of my game in all my endeavors to achieve greatness.  And it also means that I must help others that work with me to play at their best levels as well.

Have you thought of a motto for how you want your year to go?  If not, take some time and do so.  Write it down and start each day reading it as part of your personal growth routine.  You will be surprised at how it will impact you!

I saw this awesome post from @SahilBloom on Twitter this past week that lays out some awesome advice and action steps to make this your best year ever.  I had to share it with you.  Check it out!

Each year, our Misfit Entrepreneur guests ends each episode by giving their Misfit 3, the 3 most important pieces of wisdom they want you to take and put into your life and your business.

And each year, at the end of the year, I go through and pick the 25 "best of the best" to share with you.  My hope if that you can use this incredible wisdom and advice to help you get off to a great start in the New Year.  

Here are the Misfit Entrepreneur Misfit 3 Top 25!

1. Be your authentic self.  The beauty of business ownership is that you get to decide what your business looks like and what it doesn’t.  
2. Get rid of your excuses.  Running your own company, you will meet yourself along the way because you will run out of excuses.  Take ownership.
3. Most things don’t matter.  There are a few things you truly need to do great to give you the best outcome.  Focus on those.
4. Look after your mind, body, and soul.
5. Do epic stuff with cool people.  Don’t leave anything on the table.
6. Purpose is the meaning of life.  Purpose can be anything as long as it is meaningful to you.  Find your purpose and see if it can be with people.
7. Build your network early and often.  Be someone who is known for helping other people and the rest will take care of itself.
8. Be present with people in their world so you don’t slip out into your world.
9. It is hard to read the label from the inside of the bottle.  You need an outsider’s perspective.  Get a mentor who has been down the road you want to travel.
10. Just go. Stop finding reasons not to do things and do them. Don’t be afraid to break stuff.
11.  You don’t need others’ approval to do what it is you want to do in business or investing.
12. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly.  You get better as you go.  
13. Show up!
14. Comparison is the thief of joy.  Envy wastes emotion and drains you.
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Enjoy the journey.
16. Take 100% responsibility for everything that happens to you and for you in your life.
17. What is the first thought you have that you design every day?  The first thing you say every day helps determine your day.
18. Don’t be emotionally attached to the outcome.  Be committed.
19. Don’t dream it.  Be it.  Don’t leave regrets.  Give it a shot.
20. You are not broken.  No one is.  You may be breaking through, but you are not broken.
21. Once you know what it is you want and why – get started as soon as possible.  Execution is more important than creating the plan.  
22. It is easy to live a hard life.  It is hard to live an easy life.
23. It is ok to be selfish to be selfless in helping others around you.
24. Save money.  Cash is king.  If you have cash you have a buffer or can weather a storm or take advantage of an opportunity.
25.  You become what you think about.  What you spend your time thinking about day to day is what becomes your life. 

The New Year is right around the corner.  Are you ready?  If you are honest, probably not.  More importantly, are you ready in your business?  Probably not there as well.  

While the holidays are time-consuming and there is a lot going on, we still need to stop and take some focused time to prepare ourselves to succeed in the New Year.  Over the years, I've put together a short, but important checklist to prepare for each New Year.  In a few simple steps, you can get yourself ready and think through the most important items to ensure you succeed. 
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Here's your year end checklist!

1.)  Conduct an honest self-assessment

Take the time to conduct an honest self-assessement of where you are and where you want to be in all areas of your life from welath to health, relationships, etc.  This will help you understand the gaps and what you need to do to reach where you want to be.

2.)  Decide what to "keep, kill, or delgate"

Once you know what you need to do to reach where you want to be, then you must put yourself in the best position to succeed in doing so.  To do this, you will need to decide which things you need to keep doing and add into your life, which things you need to get rid of and/or stop doing and which things you should delegate to others. 

3.) Plan, Plan, Plan

Once you have determined what is needed to get you where you want to go and the things to focus on or delegate to get you there, you need to plan to make it happen.  This means putting in your daily, weekly, and monthly actions that you will need to do consistently to reach your goals.  Do no get overwhelmed by this.  Remember, people overestimate what they can do in a week and underestimate what they can do in a year.  Play the long game.  Planning gives you the actions needed to succeed, so you don't have to think or procrastinate.  You just get up every day and start executing.  

4.)  Resolve to constantly evaluate what is working and what is not

Just because you decided to "Keep, kill or delegate" once does not mean you are done.  You should evaluate, at least monthly, what is working and what is not so you can refine and get even better.

There you have it, a 4-step checklist to end the year successfully and start the New Year on right foot!

I was recently having a conversation with a family member and the topic of me racing Ironman came up and all the training I do.  After talking about the commitment needed to be successful in these races, they asked me "Why do you do it?"
 
It was a good question and my answer somewhat surprised them as it relates to business and entrepreneurship as well.

My response was the following....

First, I have found that in life, the more I challenge my limits and overcome them, the more I am capable of and higher levels of success I can reach.  It also opens my eyes to the possibilities I previously may have not thought possible.  The other side of it, is that I have done all this work to get into the shape I am in, over a number of years and it would be a shame to just let go.  As Walter Payton famously said, "It is a lot easier to stay in shape than it is to get in shape."  I prefer to stay in shape.

With that, they nodded their head and understood.

It is the same in business as well.  Every time we push through a barrier or big obstacle, we get better and find our business is capable of more than we thought.  And when we do reach high levels of success, we must work hard to keep them and not let them go.  This takes commitment, focus, and endurance.  

Remember, "It is a lot easier to stay in shape than it is to get in shape..."  Get yourself and your business in shape and keep it there!

I came across a great list of fatherly advice from @mbrandoph on Twitter this past week and had to share it.  Here it is!

Do you know what the biggest killer of dreams is?  It is not outside circumstances or lack of talent or lack of knowledge.  The biggest killer of dreams is worry and fear.  

What do you worry about?  What is constantly on your mind?  What eats at you day and night?  How is it impacting you?   

Whatever you are worried about or fearful of, chances are it will never come to fruition - but it can be a great excuse not to move forward or step out of your comfort zone.  The worry and fear will keep you in the same place if you let them.  That is why they are the killers of dreams.  Because in order to reach your dreams and reach new heights - you will have to push beyond your worries and fear.  And to many, that is very scary. 

What if?  What if? What if?  When you even attempt to push through these things, you will find yourself in the "What if?" stage where you come up with every possible scenario that can go wrong if you push through the worry and fear.  But, what if you did and things went right?  Where would you be?  What could you accomplish if you did not have the worry and fear?

We are pre-wired to focus on the negative and make that the more possible outcome in our lives which is just plain wrong.  We must focus on the positive outcome as that is just as possible or many times, even more possible than the negative outcome.  

For just once, focus on the positive outcome of going for your dreams.  List out all the wonderful things that would happen if you reached them.  Then pick one action you can take toward them.  Set aside the worry and the fear.  They will be there, but take one action toward your dream.  Then once you've done that, take one more action.  Each time, you accomplish one action, pick a new one and keep going.  You'll be amazed at what happens when you focus on reaching your goal one action at a time and how it can eliminate the worry and fear that stands in your way.